Ennis C.B.S. Primary History from 1827- 2008
The town of Ennis, to which the Christian Brothers first came in January 1827, was a market town of about 8,000 inhabitants. The then Bishop of Killaloe, Dr. Mc Mahon wrote to Brother Ignatius Rice, founder of the Irish Christian Brothers, requesting him to open a school in Ennis to care for the sadly neglected youth of the town. An official report at the time describes Ennis in stark terms: "very little trade, no manufacturers, no municipal police, no charities, no lamps and no scavengers". The first school was in an old disused corn store near the river Fergus, in the Cornmarket area of the town.
On the first morning a milling crowd of 400 boys, all eager to taste the novelty of school life confronted the Brothers. In 1830 - 1831 a new school was built in the Newtown-Stackpool area of the town, now known as Lifford.
The new school was a two-storey building with an extra large room on each floor. The contractors were pressing for their claim for £200 debt outstanding and the school was mortgaged to a local merchant, without the permission of Brother Rice. Brother Rice was an avowed antagonist of the Government Education Board and sometime later the General Chapter decided to sever all connections with the National Board of Education.
The school at Newtown-Stackpool passed under the National Board and was staffed by lay teachers. The Brothers were allowed to store their corn in the upper storey of the school at Newtown-Stackpool and in defiance of the prohibition on using the premises of the National school, the Brothers resumed class in 1858, in the upper storey.
The original Newtown-Stackpool school underwent a thorough renovation in 1956 and four new classrooms were added.
A School Hall was built in 1957 and has served to produce plays, concerts, choral competitions and feiseanna since it was built 40 years ago. School drama groups have won All-Ireland titles in Féile Scoldrámaíochta in recent years.
The Junior School Section was built in 1969 to serve the educational needs of the Infant boys in the Lifford area. So sharp was the population growth that a further four extra classrooms were erected in the late seventies.
The School became co-educational in 1992 and numbers on roll have continued to increase to the extent that the school has a current enrolment in the region of 530 pupils with a teaching staff of 27.
The need for a school pitch was identified in the early nineties and a fine pitch was provided on the eastern side of the school at a time when the town was experiencing a serious shortage of playing facilities. While Ennis C.B.S. caters for many sports such as swimming, basketball, table tennis and athletics we would proudly place a huge emphasis on the promotion of Gaelic games with many of the teachers giving generously of their time in this area of activity.
Official Opening of School Pitch 1998
With the advent of Ennis Information Age Town, the school, in keeping with all schools in the town, now has a Computer Lab with 31 Computers and each individual classroom has at least one PC. This very exciting development was enthusiastically welcomed by the teachers, pupils and parents. In June of 1998, prior to Ennsi Inforamtion Age Town, 6 dedicated C.B.S. pupils won a National Technology Competition sponsored by Telecom Éireann. Their prize was an all expenses paid trip for a week in Silicon Valley California.
The Winning Team in Silicon Valley
Some of the distinguished past pupils in recent times include Bishop of Dublin Fiachra Ó Ceallaigh, World Champion Irish dancer Michael Donnellan, World Champion Handballer Fergal Coughlan, Clare Senior football Captain Barry Keating and hurling stars Stephen McNamara and Sean McMahon. Sean was voted Texaco Hurler of the Year in 1995.
The C.B.S. in Ennis has come a long way from the old disused corn store used by the Christian Brothers when they first came to Ennis in 1827.